Why do people want to fight on these threads?

POSTED BY: Mangolo
UPDATED: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 17:36
VIEWED: 4333
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MANGOLO

Friday, August 28, 2009 11:46 AM

I know a few people have had this experience - myself included. Making me ready to bail out of here.

I post an opinion on a board and someone not only tears apart my opinion as if it were a challenge against their very existence, they tear into me as a person as well.

Recently, I was at a community meeting. A lot of people were starting to raise their voices and the tension started to build. My friend Lizby stood up and said, "we are all here for the good of the community. If we can't be civil and make this fun, we should all go home."

Wise words by a wise woman.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=86085840444

GWEK

Friday, August 28, 2009 12:50 PM

I've found that people like to fight on the internet. It's not a feature of threads here, but of every single forum I've ever been on.

I think it's much easier to care about the "good of the community" when you can actually SEE the community. The anonymity of the internet allows people to say things they would never say in "real life."

I think there's also the issue of nuance. When you're speaking to someone live, there are all manner of clue to pick up on beyond the literal words (facial expression, body language, etc). Even on the phone, there's tone, pauses, etc. ON the internet, nothin' but the cold hard words, leaving interpretation solely to the message's recipient.

www.stillflying.net: "Here's how it might have been..."

AURAPTOR

Friday, August 28, 2009 1:00 PM

We all come here for different reasons....

Sorry, I couldn't resist. But all kidding aside, that is in part the reason for such animosity and misunderstanding. We all do come from different perspectives, and different ideas of what is 'good' for the community.

My particular views, political and personal, are based on my individualist mindset. ( I won't bore anyone w/ the specifics ) I've found that merely trying to express my views alone generates a response by some, which has nothing to do w/ the topic at hand, or my take on the issue being discussed. And I'm guilty of doing exactly that myself, jumping on another's comments before I've fully understood what it is they're saying, or at LEAST allowing them to finish their point.

(We) are an interesting species. Capable of such beautiful dreams and such terrible nightmares

HELL'S KITTEN

Friday, August 28, 2009 1:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Mangolo:
I post an opinion on a board and someone not only tears apart my opinion as if it were a challenge against their very existence, they tear into me as a person as well.

ZOMG!!!1! WTF iz wr0ng wiff U?!?!?1
UR lam3 & UR opini0nz R st00p1d!!1one!

Yeah, see, basically... people suck. They've been so wrapped up in their own little insanity known as the RWED area (more often than not), that they don't remember what the real world is like. So they see everything as an attack since their claws are already extended; big sharks in a little pond; an E-version of blood sport (eBloodSport?). It's made this place miserable on many occasions, and I'm sorry it happened to you. It's a bit... ironic?... that fans of a show surrounding independence get vicious when someone displays their independence. Avoiding those threads is the only way I've found that works.

NIKI2

Friday, August 28, 2009 3:23 PM

My opinion would be: Be grateful. I came from another board where, not only was anything posted from one side immediately attacked by the other, but the wingnuts were "in charge", in that they GANGED UP on any dissenting views, made it personal, were pretty damned vicious, and would go on attacking the person, with a couple of people defending, and it virtually always devolved into a thread filled with nothing but nastiness and personal attacks.

The "clique" runs things and no effort can stop them, especially as there are few willing to try in their version of the "Real World Topics" forum, so that forum is pretty much their territory and no serious debates ensue there.

ANY mention of one's personal life becomes fodder to attack them, and the arguments become senseless and ridiculously derrogatory, with one side attacking and the other attacking back, and one can be singled out by one group for unmerciful, continuing attacks. I ran in the end, after trying several different tactics to deal with it. I'm not the first.

And it's a Firefly site, to boot.

I agree with the difficulties of the internet, I think we've all run into them. But when it goes beyond misunderstanding to deliberate attack, and continues unabated, it's a pisser.

I also agree with the anonymity...especially in that it makes it easy for trolls to be as nasty as they want to without any sense of responsibility. They came into any discussion not involving themselves and turned it into a political battle. It's a "clique" over there, to the point where anyone daring to disagree becomes a target and is either forced into silence or run off.

This place is heaven in contrast. Yes, it devolves into nastiness, but not always, there are opposing sides presented reasonably, so it's more evenhanded, and the points people make are often valid and reasoned, and I'm very, VERY grateful to find it.

I understand what you're saying, believe me, and I wish it weren't so. But here there is a choice to go to other topics being discussed where it doesn't get nasty; I appreciate that. Where I came from, there were frequent calls for peace and I, too, posted at one time the question as to why it got so nasty. Anyone voicing those opinions is immediately labeled as trying to "control" the place, their suggestions/questions dismissed, and it goes on unabated. It's very sad to see, especially among a community which shares the love of something special and wants to get to know others of their ilk.

I do realize we come from different points of view, but it's a shame those different points can't keep from devolving into personal attacks and fights. I guess that's just the way it is. Trust me; this place is far superior to some others, tho'!

________________________
Together we are greater than the sum of our parts

DEADLOCKVICTIM

Friday, August 28, 2009 4:03 PM

...people are the worst, Jerry, the worst...

BYTEMITE

Friday, August 28, 2009 4:06 PM

It actually wasn't the RWED, Niki.

Urgh. All I can say, Mangolo, is don't take it personally. Everybody encounters him at least once, and yes, he is a little bit... Harsh. I think that four years and no new Firefly has kind of frustrated him, and he takes that out here.

Either that, or he's got other things going on. Or heck, really, that's the first time I've ever seen him tear into someone when it wasn't a Firefly related thing, but maybe he just doesn't bother with tact. What I do know is that he doesn't seem to realize he's being as harsh as he is.

So, it's not intentional. Plus, he doesn't actually come around that often. Think he's moved on to other things.

FREMDFIRMA

Friday, August 28, 2009 4:29 PM

Niki has a point though, I've been round the bound since the days of dialup text BBS and ANSI graphics, and folk were nasty then too.

Here, with the exception of RWED, where people go to deliberately and intentionally engage in that sort of thing, kind of like our own version of the Thunderdome, or Mosh Pit, people generally are way more decent to each other than most sites of this type, overall.

I'm sorry that you ran into someone who flaked out on you, but just like the crew of serenity, we do at times have some issues, don't we ?

Try not to throw anyone out an airlock though, waste of good air, yanno ?

That said, better than (insert garbage pit of a site here) isn't exactly a good yardstick to measure ourselves by, and for those that *didn't* come here to fight, we shouldn't be inflictin that upon them.

We're browncoats, we can do the impossible, so gettin along, heck, that should be easy, shouldn't it ?

Well, theoretically, anyways...

How bout I share my pizza and we don't give em the satisfaction of seein anyone upset over it - that work for you ?

-F

STOWEAWAY

Friday, August 28, 2009 5:55 PM

I heard a very un-PC statement that covers that sort of thing. You might get a laugh out of it so I'll repeat it here.....

Please don't flame me for it.

"Arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics. You might win but you're still retarded."

So whenever you see folks ranting & raving on here or anywhere else, just try to see them as the little idiot child. It might make you smile instead of angry.
Personally, I don't argue with anyone that I can't buy a beer for afterward. Them's not kosher fighting rules.

=====================================================================
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KWICKO

Friday, August 28, 2009 6:31 PM

Yup, we *generally* try to keep these kinds of threads firmly in the RWED area, which I've said for a while really should be renamed "Fight Club", because that's what so much of it really is.

And when I say "we", I specifically include myself in that group, as I'm at least as guilty of it as anyone else on this site. I've let it slip over to a few threads on the non-RWED areas, but I generally try not to do that. Some of us have VIGOROUS disagreements about politics and social issues, but at the end of the day, we're Browncoats, so we all band together when the (ahem) serenity of our li'l boat is threatened, whether it be from without or from within.

Mike

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